And still, they sat. The plane ran out of food, water, then the lavatories were locked shut. But for Brown, not using the bathroom presented a health risk of potential infection, or worse.

His wife, Francine, sent a text to her family, asking that they save them. Finally, Jimmy simply had to go.

“You’re throwing blankets over your head and me and her under the blanket. Got a clip over here, I’m unbuttoning my pants. I have to cath right in my chair. It’s a little degrading,” Brown said.

“I’m very upset. I’m very shaken up by it. Difficult,” said Brown’s wife, Francine.

The pilot told air traffic control he had a paraplegic on board and begged for help.

“Look, you know, we can’t seem to get any help from our own company. I apologize for this, but is there any way you can get a tug and a tow bar out here to us and get us towed somewhere to a gate or something. I don’t care — take us anywhere,” the pilot pleaded.

But that never happened. Finally nine hours after landing, firefighters came on board, carried him down the stairs and into the airport.

“I don’t see why that couldn’t have been done hours before,” Brown said. “Why wait until 9 or 10 o’clock at night?”

On Monday, JetBlue released a statement, which says in part “We apologize to the customers impacted by this confluence of events, as it remains JetBlue’s responsibility to not simply provide safe and secure travel, but a comfortable experience as well.”

JetBlue declined an interview with CBS 2, but said in a statement that weather problems “made refueling and … deplaning difficult.”

Bradley International Airport said handling 23 diverted planes stretched their resources to the limit. The Department of Transportation is investigating.